Where can one go to check if a name is trademarked already?

the site is www.uspto.gov

I read some while ago in russia there is an icecream called Windows wich makes sense when I read your post ;)))

Funny thread sofar though

Your boss must be a dumb ass. You can not trade mark "kick ass" it is to generic and is used in every day language. You trademarked "kick ass pictures". That does not give you the right to any url that has "kick ass" in it. I hope all the sites you try and bully take you and your boss to court and sue your ass for harrassment.

Funny you mention both computers and cars as example categories... :)

http://www.nissan.com/
http://www.nissan.com/Digest/The_Story.php

"recently completed trademarking":1orglaugh

interesting to see this play out

Vic, I never received your reply. All I received was an e-mail threatning to send legal after me for infringing on your supposed trademark.

I don't appreciate your attempt to bully me into giving you the domain, I am not some webmaster living in his parent's basement. I went thru a domain dispute 4 years ago with Mastercard and won, so excuse me if I'm not pissing my pants over this situation LOL!

There are much better ways to protect your company's brand and at the same time generate traffic to your sites then threatening legal action at every turn.

DH

I've actually been through a complex trademark dispute issue with a company I used to work for. I'm no attorney, but I do know a fair amount about it from working with the attorneys who handled the litigation.

People succeed in getting a trademark registered, and I think about 90% of them have NO IDEA what it actually means. I've been amazed at the bullying that people do when they think they have a trademark claim. A huge percentage of the time, they're completely full of shit.

First, only the registered mark itself, and no derivatives thereof are afforded protection. So "Kick Ass Pictures" is protected by the issuance of the trademark registration, but "Kick Ass" or "Kick Ass Galleries" would not be. Even the most senile judge would be able to discern that there isn't a reasonable confusion between the two.

Secondly, the mark registration ONLY APPLIES TO THE CATEGORY IN WHICH IT IS ISSUED. So, in this case, the applicable portion of the "kick ass pictures" trademark registration reads

"entertainment in the nature of prerecorded adult-oriented programming distributed by audio and video media and a global computer network"

So they have the right to the name "KICK ASS PICTURES" with respect ONLY to prerecorded adult-oriented programming (i.e., audio and video) and when distributed as physical product (DVDs, CDs), on the Web, or on cable TV.

So... if you run a TGP site that offers mostly stills, does not use the words "kick ass pictures" anywhere on it, they have no claim because (a) you're not using the registered mark (all 3 words) and (b) you're not in the same class of registration (videos distributed on the web.)

This would be like Delta Airlines suing Delta Power Tools over the name "delta.com". Both have trademarks on their respective names in their respective categories, but neither has an overriding right to the name "delta.com".

Same deal with you.

I would find a good intellectual property/patent-trademark attorney (I know a couple if you need contacts) and have him ready, but otherwise, I'd just sit and tell them to piss off.

It sounds more and more like reverse domain name hijacking. It's a common practice used by bigger companies to take away domains from the smaller guys. Currently there is no law against it (mostly because big companies are the ones who don't want one) but it is considered an abuse of the administrative proceeding and the panel can enter such a finding in the record to warn others about the trademark owner.

A trademark holder does not have the exclusive right to use a word that is merely descriptive, since this decreases the words available to describe. I am amazed that their lawyer would not notify them of this very simple fact in trademark law.

funny that few here have been around long enough to remember cohen and all the domains he got with "sex" in them. few seem to understand that legal and not legal, "right" and "wrong" are ideas which are more determined by who has the deepest pockets and is willing to fight the hardest than anything else. you can still be "right" and be sued into bankrupcy.

"those who come to gfy for legal advice, have already lost the battle"
Sun Tzu - Art of Ignorance

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

hey get me that guy address, pay me the 450 i will pay him a visit and for sure you will keep your domain:thumbsup

send them some anthrax - that'll fix em

It seems the problem go resolved in this thread ...

Big missunderstanding, but yeah the email seemed wrong.

Using thoses tactics in the adult webmastering world would just be wrong and would probably result in massive boycott of the affiliate program... there is so many good products out there already, that anything negative arround one can fuck it up badly.

why offer you 450 cause he's nice or he knows he doesn't have a leg to stand on

trademarks mean nothing unless you have 100k for layers to back it up.

DH - You have my email, why communicate with me over a message board known simply for inflamation of ingrown hairs? Same with AJ in the first place.

I apologize for not being aware of how intense this could be on the receiving end. Prior to sending my email to you and others I did not envision that what I wrote would be interpreted as a legal bullying. I was trying to say that we would should discuss a normal sale and transfer of domain names ASAP because my company was interested in pusruing legal action in cases where that was not an option.

In any case - please do contact me via email or ICQ or phone. I believe you have my contact information.

Rock for light.